


Chandra, Torch of Defiance

by Mertiya, Zomburai



Series: The Mana Leak Coffee Shop [6]
Category: Magic: The Gathering
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Chandra is cool, F/F, Getting Together, Jace attempts to be wingman, Mythology - Freeform, Nissa is cute, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-14 10:38:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18050924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mertiya/pseuds/Mertiya, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zomburai/pseuds/Zomburai
Summary: This is a tale of flames and fury and righteous vengeance. If you believe you are faint of heart, I recommend that you avoid such a story, but if you have even a spark of courage inside of you, stay seated and listen, for you will be enlightened.Or: in which I tell Nissa some things about Chandra.Edit: updated with illustrations!





	Chandra, Torch of Defiance

            This is a tale of flames and fury and righteous vengeance. If you believe you are faint of heart, I recommend that you avoid such a story, but if you have even a spark of courage inside of you, stay seated and listen, for you will be enlightened.

            On May 7, 1997, there raged a great storm, such as had not been seen along the coasts of the little town in many, many years. The sea rose up and attacked the land, and the sky responded by taking no sides but battling the other two equally. Amidst all of this furor, a child was brought into the world.

            She should have been born in a palace, this little girl, the only child of an Indian princess and an Irish bard, but she was too impatient. Their car stalled at the side of the road and the little girl clawed her way out of her mother’s belly, stared at the world, and screamed as a huge bolt of lightning struck the car. But she was not screaming with fear; she was screaming with excitement at this new world that he she had just entered.

            At her scream, the sea and the sky and the land turned to look. One by one, chastened by the fury of the fiery child, they slunk away from their petty fighting. The clouds cleared, the wind died, and the rain ceased to fall. In the sky, the moon rose, as bright as a new penny. The princess, the child’s mother, looked to it and smiled in exhaustion. “We shall call her Chandra,” she said, “for that means ‘moon’.”

            The child’s father looked at her doubtfully. “Are you sure she is peaceful enough to name after the moon?” he asked.

            The mother smiled at him. “If you think the moon is peaceful, perhaps you should consult with the tides,” she replied.

~

            Chandra grew like a weed in power and intelligence. At five years old, she was to be discovered lighting small fires with her mind and helping her mother, a mighty artificer. Between the two of them, they created a steed made all of iron that her mother rode upon to make her away around the city. Her father said, “You would not catch me dead on that thing, I hate motorcycles, I am getting us a car.”

            But ever and always Chandra had a great love for her steed of iron, and when she was old enough to choose a steed of her own, lo, she chose one like her mother’s and not like her father’s. Her father sighed and said, “Just don’t die, kiddo.”

            One of the great trials that she was forced to overcome was a spell cast upon her by the evil magician Baral. Chandra, hero of fire that she was, had a powerful mind and a unique way of learning, but the evil magician cast terrible spells upon her so that whenever she tried to learn, she would be punished instead. Many children would have been daunted, or called for their parents, but not Chandra. She braced the dread magician herself, summoning a swarm of insects to her defense whenever he tried to cast magic on her. She also found a magic potion that helped her learn.

 

            The magician retaliated by attempting to cast a banishing spell, which would have flung Chandra out of our reality and into the grey realms beyond ours, perhaps forever. Chandra’s insects and her magic potions could not avail against such a cruel spell, for despite her talent, she was still a child, without enough command over her own strength to counter the many years’ experience of the cursed Baral. Even in the face of her own mortality, she did not lose hope, but cried out for help, a cry that resonated across the cosmos.

            Her shout summoned first the head mage of Baral’s order and then her own mother. Chandra still stood, trembling but unmoved, before the spell that would strip her out of the world, her little insects chittering and swarming in concern around her feet. “Stop!” cried the head mage, but so intense was Baral’s ferocity that he would have completed his spell anyway, had it not been for Chandra’s mother putting herself between the two of them. The skies boiled around her, and the effort showed on her face, but she nulled the spell with a twist of her hands and sent it ricocheting back towards Baral.

            Although he was able to avoid the full effect of the spell, Baral was nonetheless banished halfway across the universe by his own spell, and it was years before he was able to drag himself back to a place where he was able to challenge Chandra once again. In the intervening years, Chandra had grown almost to her full womanhood. She and her father had constructed her steed from molten metal, and she had completed the entrance rites for the final stage of her education when Baral returned.

            Looming up from the misty haze of the cosmos, he caught Chandra by surprise with an imprisonment spell, binding her to the ground. “Now you will know the pain I felt,” he growled, and the iron bars around her throat and wrists writhed.

            “I will never let you win!” Chandra cried. She was much older now than she had been when last they had battled; she put forth a great effort of will and with a great cry summoned her inner fire. Flames poured from her mouth and eyes and hands, and so hot did she become that the metal around her warped and melted, freeing her. Gasping, she staggered upright, but she had spent a great deal of her strength in breaking the restraints, and she was almost defenseless. Baral’s mouth opened in a nasty, crooked grin and he pulled out his wicked, carven blade dripping with the blood of innocents. “Now comes your reckoning!” he shouted.

            “You may kill me, but you’ll never chain my spirit,” Chandra spat, trying to summon the flames to defend her, but she could do little more than produce a shower of sparks. Baral struck at her—and, at the last moment, Chandra’s father, summoned by her distress, put himself between them. The blade pierced his heart, but he did not die immediately. Instead, he fell to his knees, and Chandra fell beside him as if she had, in truth, been struck. She cradled him in her arms and as his lifeblood fled, she turned once again to Baral. Pure white fire sprang up along her arms and hands.

            She went for Baral’s throat, and he cried out as her fire burned his face and the hands he flung up to defend himself. “Die!” screamed Chandra, and Baral fled, turning his own banishment spell on himself once more, leaving Chandra alone with her father. She bent over him and wept until her tears made a river that bore his body downstream and back to the palace where Chandra had grown up. Her mother’s steed cried loudly, and when Chandra returned, she found her mother preparing her father’s body for burial. “I will kill Baral,” Chandra vowed, and her mother nodded and gripped her shoulder.

            “Bide your time, my daughter,” she said, “but remain firm in your purpose.”

            Chandra kept the flames of her vengeance burning as she grew, but despite that, her heart was full of compassion. She created a haven for many who found no succor elsewhere. She fought off an evil man made of metal and saved a young telepath who swore himself into her service. One day she would see Baral again, but until then, she bided her time and grew stronger and more wonderful.

            “In other words, when she asks you out in—” I check my cell phone, “—five minutes, you should definitely say yes.”

            Nissa’s mouth is open and she’s staring at me. “Wow,” she says.

            “Yeah,” I nod, eyebrows really high. “Chandra’s fucking awesome.”

            She swallows, a pucker of concern appearing on her forehead. “Is—is Chandra’s father really—um, passed away?”

            Oh, shit. “Oh, god, no.” I wave my hands in negation. “Nonono. There was a huge clusterfuck when the whole Baral thing went down, and he got fired, but he found another job later.”

            “So…you didn’t just make this up whole cloth?” Nissa prods, tapping a finger against her lips. “That’s really impressive, Jace.”

            “Chandra is really impressive,” I respond. “Oh, Chandra! Hey.”

            “Jace.” Chandra taps her foot at me. “What’ve you been telling Nissa? I told you to tell her—”

            “How incredibly awesome you are?” I grin and duck my head. “Okay, so admittedly some of my World Mythology homework got in there. A little bit.”

            Chandra groans and turns to Nissa. “So, uh,” she says, fidgeting. “Um, I don’t know exactly what Jace said, but.” She takes a deep breath. “I think you’re really, um, cute? And sweet? And I was wondering if you’d like to get a coffee or dinner or go to a movie or something? With me?”

            “And here I was expecting you were going to ask me out on Gideon’s behalf.” Nissa giggles, just a little, then reaches out and brushes her fingers across Chandra’s knuckles. “I would love to go on a date with you, Chandra.”

            “Yeah?” Chandra rocks back and forth on the balls of her feet, and Nissa nods again. “Fuck _yeah_!” She fist-pumps. “I take back every mean thought I had, Jace, you’re a _fantastic_ wingman!” She punches my shoulder, and I stick my tongue out at her, flushing a little. She turns back to Nissa, leaning forward, and I look away to give them a little privacy.

            I’m staring at my hands, still feeling half embarrassed and half jubilant, when I feel my phone vibrate and pull it out. It’s a text from Gideon.

 

> _Have you heard from Mr. Ugin recently?_

           

            I frown.

>Not really?

> _It’s just a little odd. He usually corresponds with me about schedules and how we’re doing at least once a week, but I haven’t heard anything since Chandra was suspended._

>that’s weird

 

            A strange little chill runs down my spine. Nissa and Chandra are still staring at each other with ridiculously cute expressions, and I don’t want to ruin the mood. I also don’t want to do anything illegal, ever again, but maybe I can still help Gideon out?

 

>I’ll ask around. maybe I can track something down over social media?

> _Thanks. It’s probably nothing._

            I shove the phone back into my pocket. Yeah. Probably nothing, I think to myself as I walk over to the door and glance up at the looming clouds overhead. The weather’s been really weird lately. Well, never mind. I look back over to where Nissa and Chandra are talking with their heads together, Chandra’s hand stretched out to tease at a stray lock of Nissa’s hair. They’re adorable. And I helped! I’m a helper!

            Maybe I really don’t fuck up everything I touch.


End file.
